♪ >> this is bbc world news america. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses

and major corporations. what can we do for you? >> and now, "bbc world news america." >> this is is bbc world news america. i am laura trevelyan. >> 50 years after president kennedy was assassinated in dallas, this city and the world stopped to mark that fateful day. could a deal be close? state john kerry is going to geneva to join in talks nuclear program. celebrating an american classic.

how the martin guitar changed music history. >> welcome to our viewers on public television and in america, and around the globe. 50 years after john f. kennedy was assassinated in dallas, thousands gathered to mark the anniversary. president obama ordered flags to be flown at half staff. we are in dallas and he joins us now. a painful, poignant day. >> indeed, a very wet and windy and blustery day as well. had the weather been like this 50 years ago in 1963 -- the

weather was bright, and that is why it -- they did not use the top on the limousine. they made their way into the plaza, in front of the texas school book depository. this is where kennedy was killed. our north american editor has been considering the meaning of that traumatic day. >> a president who offered optimism in an age of uncertainty was murdered here, and in the aftermath of the assassination, dallas was called the city of hate. still struggling to make sense of what happened. a man whod in awe of literally told us to reach for the moon, though he would not live to see us achieve that goal. >> america's youngest president and its first catholic seemed to

offer a fresh vision for a country that was changing fast. he and his wife had enchanted most of america. this was intended to charm the state of texas. >> something has happened in the motorcade route. standby. there has been a shooting and the hospital is standing by for a severe gunshot wound. the presidential car is coming up now. there is a secret service man spread eagle on top of the car. >> president kennedy has been assassinated. this is official now. the president is dead. >> kendrick shows where he stood 15 years ago, as a 15-year-old schoolboy wanting to shake the president's hand. >> the president was coming here like this and he was going like that. it sounded like he was joking.

saw the look on jackie kennedy's face as she turned toward him, and as she turned away from that. the look of horror really freaked me out. i had to run and get out of here. >> when the shots came from the window in that building and hid kennedy there in his motorcade, it was as though hope itself had died. his reputation is still high. thinkjority of americans that he was better than any president who followed him. >> they make a study of the jfk legend and these people know all about his womanizing and the crippling ailments he kept secret. me, he represents the best of america. stillll to action -- is as relevant today as it was in

the early 1960s. but he had been sluggish on civil rights and died before he could disappoint the secret of his iconic appeal. >> if we continue to stumble and struggle into the future, kennedy will continue to have this phenomenal hold on the public's hopes injuring's, and imagination. >> today, the city's to celebrate the president whose murder froze his promise and turned him into a blank canvas in which americans can draw their dreams. bbc news, dallas. >> that is part of the continuing fascination on john f. kennedy, we all get to decide how it would have ended. for historians -- their assessment of kennedy's contributions to national life are not so positive. but this has been a poignant day, a day of remembrance in commemoration, and

a day of atonement for a city that has always had a very difficult relationship with the most awkward and awful day in its history. thank you. among those there that fateful day in dallas 50 years ago -- was journalist robert mcneil. he spoke to me from new york about his recollections. >> what was the atmosphere like in dallas on that day, half a century ago? >> at first, it was delightful. the kennedys came out of air force one, resplendent. especially mrs. kennedy. with her hair glossy and glowing in the bright sunshine, with a bunch of blood red roses pressed up against her. i was close enough to her that i could look over her shoulder, and i saw a hand come through the fence and break off one of

the roses that she was carrying. to the outskirts of dallas, crowds were so thick and milling out into the streets, that i could see over the other cars in between and it looked as though the street would be too crowded, like a river that had broken its banks, for the motorcade to get through. that was the atmosphere in till we turned into dealey plaza. >> what happened next? we hade was a bang, and time for the exchange and then there were two of them close together and i said, those are shots. the first building that i came to that seem to have a telephone was the texas school book depository. a young man insurance leaves came out -- he said you better ask inside. i did a bulletin about the shots being fired, people lying down on the grass and covering their

children with their bodies, people saying -- it was not known if the shots were directed at the president. iran outside and the police and stop me, and a little black boy said -- i see the man with the gun in the window there. the man with the gun out there. said, he wasut and not hurt, was he? and the policeman said he was hurt bad. and then i heard he was hit in the head. and taken to the hospital. >> did you immediately harvey oswald that day -- -- i was told by the secret service i could not confirm mr. manchester -- but at the museum of the assassination in dallas, they believe it was someone else who oswald spoke to. i can't prove it. it is titiating to think i may have seen him --

>> what impact did this have on you personally. >> i was at the grassy knoll with the film crew and we filmed their reaction to people who came to look at the few flowers and notes that were left, the beginnings of the shrine. a elderly man came along with transistor radio and sat down beside us. watcht moment, the black highland park regiment band asked the microphones in washington and the sound of the bagpipes suddenly did something to me and i was smothered with tears. i was actually sobbing there. >> thank you for joining us with those recollections. >> this is a pleasure. >> numbering the death of a president. scotland yard detectives investigating the case of two women who were held captive for 30 years have uncovered a

disturbing picture of emotional control. the police say that the women have been abused, including being beaten. the alleged captors are also being investigated for immigration offenses. in pakistan, two bomb explosions in a busy neighborhood in the city of karachi. five people were killed in the blast, where many shia muslims live and others have been wounded. police say the bombs were placed on motorcycles. seven of the main islamist rebel groups have joined forces to share a united front after weeks in which the government forces have made steady gains. the group said they would now be known as the islamic front. and the new command structures with key roles shared with leaders of the seven groups. joinkerry is on his way to

groups in geneva for possible agreement on the iranian nuclear program. -- lavrov hasuf already arrived. there is believed an agreement can be met in the next couple of days. i asked how close to a deal they might be this time around. >> will it be groundhog day? the state department used the same language that they used two weeks ago, saying that john kerry is coming here to narrow the distance between them and the british secretary is on the way as well. canquestion is whether they agree on some of the key issues, one of them is the enrichment of uranium, and the iranians say that they want this for peaceful reasons. much of the world thinks they

are trying to make a nuclear bomb. will they accept limitations and what will they be. will sanctions be lifted? that is what they are talking about. talking late into the night and they will be talking late tomorrow as well. >> and there was a deal how significant would this be. >> this would be very significant. this smoldering yet very dangerous potential crisis has been going on now for some years. and there have been many well- founded predictions that this could lead to a middle eastern war. israel has said many times that they may feel forced to bomb the nuclear installations. the americans have never taken a military option off the table. this could come down to a question of war and peace. >> thank you for joining us.

two weeks ago the philippines haiyan,ered by typhoon and now the death toll is over 5000. aid is arriving at the hardest hit areas, but with 4 million people left homeless the leak -- the need is overwhelming. we spent the day with a family who is trying to put their lives back together. >> there has been so much chaos, but at last now there is order. to aid is arriving, guarantee everyone has food and water. years, butwill take getting the powerback online will help. no time for health and safety here. this is urgent work. and in every neighborhood here, the people are fighting back

themselves. family, the battle to retake their lives will start here, the mission is to take away all traces of the typhoon. the girls are helping out and doing all that they can. indoors, their grandmother, -- she is contemplating ruin. the brave face breaks with tension. i was born here. to leaveot supposed this place at my age. hern reality, she and neighbors have little time to indulge in emotions. there is work to do in the street -- and they are getting on with it. is her cousin -- with a house full of mud, but he also

has food and water and a homemade shovel, and plenty of attitude. positive attitude. after the rain and sunshine, that is all. there is still so much work to do here. is theren't this -- this hard work in the people themselves are making all the difference, cleaning up and moving on, determined that their city and region will rise again. cook, tacloban. >> still to come, a science- fiction program still going strong after 50 years. who"ok back at how "dr. has endured for decades.

51 people have been killed including three firefighters after an enormous section of the roof collapsed at a supermarket in the latvian capital of riga. the police have launched a criminal investigation into what went wrong. a garden on the roof and thousands -- hundreds of people could still be trapped in the rubble. >> 5000 square feet of this roof collapsed yesterday evening. the shoppers below at what was a particularly busy time. the ceiling started to collapse around them. and they were plunged into darkness. and there was debris all around us. we saw this going all the way across the floor. >> since then the rescue teams have been working around the

clock, searching for people trapped under the rubble. it is not known how many that there may be. but throughout the day bodies have been removed. the number of dead increasing steadily. killed were three firemen who rushed in to help just as much -- just as more of the roof collapsed. this garden being built on top of the roof may have caused the disaster. sand and other building materials were loaded here in recent weeks, with rainwater adding to the weight. and already the government has announced that there will be a police inquiry. this evening an anxious wait continues for those whose loved ones are still missing, in the worst tragedy they have -- suffered since their independence 20 years ago.

>> as television series go, few have had the impact and staying power of dr. who. it has been a half-century since this appeared on the screen and people cannot wait to see what what happened on the special 50th anniversary tomorrow. we look back at the world's longest running sci-fi program and the lucky man who has been inside the tardis. at 5:15, 1963,, a mysterious exile from another 1.ld appeared on bbc is -- the tone of the show is set by the engine

ingenious people in the workshop -- who could make this sound high-tech. good,eone is going to be he needs someone who is really bad. somerogram has created iconic villains, from clone warriors to cybernetic armies. introduction of the most hideous and daemonic mutants that made him and daleks.famous, the >> exterminate. >> he has survived the daleks, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. dr. who is an appointment to

view, tv, must see. but if you have to give one reason for their lasting sick -- lasting success it would be this. to make the doctor capable of reincarnation, was a brilliant idea that allowed the show to stay fresh. each new doctor would have different personalities and tastes, but some characteristics have always stayed the same. he is an upper-middle-class english eccentric. >> in 1989, the brand had grown tired. enthusiasm was waning. the show was closed but then in the verse -- the universe was brought back to life.

>> the trick of a lifetime. academics have discussed philosophical issues arising from the program, which is the inspiration for books and film and electronic music. a children's program that became a cult hit, and turned into a global brand and one of the most culturally significant programs to have been made. bbc news, somewhere in time and space. >> the daleks are my favorite. martin guitars are some of the finest to be found. businesses spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and they are sought after by musicians around the globe. this year the martin guitar company celebrates their 180th anniversary.

a new book, american guitar has been published. we hear about the rich history of these instruments. >> i am the editor of inventing the american guitar. this is the first time we have told the story of the development of the guitar in america. america in 1833 with cf martin, and even though the guitar was popular in europe -- it was not popular in america, the primary instrument was the fiddle or the banjo. martin began making the guitars he had learned to make in germany and very quickly established his business in america. today, the martin guitar is really the iconic american instrument.

it has been played by the best performers, write to the 20th century. with aresley played martin guitar and the most iconic as the one that eric clapton played on his first unplugged performance, which began the latest age of acute -- acoustic music. the earliest of his guitars are beautiful instruments. they did not look like the guitar that we know of today. war, he wasivil making guitars that looked like the american guitar, today. what we discovered was that the missing link for the development of martin's guitars was the spanish guitar, which he discovered on new york stage within half a dozen years of setting up shop in new york city.

the spanish guitar was a real revelation, a large instrument with more volume. and martin, being a businessman. designer,ftsman and a and an innovator, quickly adopted a lot of the features the spanish guitar. the martin guitar company is still family owned, and they have a much larger factory and have enlarged their factory a number of times. the guitars are still recognizable as martin guitars. if he was still alive today he would be making these guitars. >> exquisite. the history of the martin guitar -- in a new book, marking the 180th anniversary of the company. that brings today's show to a close but you can find updates on our website.

tonight, we leave you with a look at the eternal flame in arlington national cemetery, and the grave of president john f. kennedy. crowds have been coming all day to river the man who was killed in dallas 50 years ago today. i am laura trevelyan. thank you for watching. >> makes sense of international news, at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good for over 30 years, union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to understand the industry you operate in, working to nurture new ventures and help provide capital for key strategic

decisions. we offer expertise and tailored solutions in a wide range of industries. what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions ( "taps" playing ) >> wooduff: the country looked back today to one of its darkest hours 50 years ago, when three shots rang out in dallas, ending the life of president john f. kennedy. good evening, i'm judy woodruff. also ahead on the program, the last few weeks have seen the stock market streak to record highs. paul solman looks at what that says about the broader economy. >> as companies continue to report healthy profits, the recovery is weak and unemploen